US police gets billions more to crush movement against US imperialism, Zionism

By Musa Iqbal

If there is one thing Americans can count on, it is their elected officials splurging billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money on war - not just abroad, but at home as well.

Late last week, US President Joe Biden announced so-called “The Safer America Plan” - which calls on US Congress to deliver $37 billion to law enforcement across the country.

Interestingly enough, this announcement came immediately after another announcement earlier that the Biden administration has delivered a “record decrease in crime.” 

Whether that is true or not remains to be seen. Crime statistics are often skewed from state to state, and the US hyper-criminalization of non-violent crimes remains a key source for its lucrative multi-billion dollar prison industry. 

What demands examination is what purpose the hyper-militarization of the police force serves. If crime is allegedly down, what exactly is the need for billions more in police spending?

Waging war at home

The reason you can call police activity “war at home” is because that is exactly what it is - US law enforcement is the most militarized police in the world.

Police units are equipped with everything from fully automatic assault rifles to MRAP vehicles - which to the uninitiated stands for “Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected” vehicle.

New additions to the police force also include military-grade drones, advanced armor, and tactical gear used in contemporary conflicts - purchased directly from the military. 

Are Americans really in danger of stumbling into a minefield while walking to work? Of course not. These weapons serve as tools for intimidation and repression - to scare off any potential dissent. 

You could call it “soft power” until it is actually used - which as we see when push comes to shove, it is.

Most of these weapons and gear have been put to use in full force in the last month with police forces across the country violently and ruthlessly cracking down on student protests in support of Palestine.

Of course, these are all unarmed protestors - mostly college students and faculty. 

Footage of everything from standard-beat police to full-fledged riot gear-clad police to even SWAT teams litter social media as they brutally suppress the Palestinian movement.

MRAP vehicles were seen moving into Columbia University in New York while heavily armored riot police brutalized demonstrators in Los Angeles. In Chicago, SWAT teams were called in within an hour of an encampment launching.  

According to the Police Funding Database, the sale of war-tested weapons is completely legal and even encouraged with discount pricing available. The “LESO/1033” and “1122” programs allow the US Department of Defense to facilitate the transfer of military equipment to law enforcement - for free.

This begs the question - if crime is down - what is the need for $37 million more towards US law enforcement - law enforcement that has reached record amounts of police killings for consecutive years?

US police killed at least 1232 people in 2023, 1176 people in 2022, and 1,055 people in 2021 - all under the Biden administration, even after nationwide protests in 2020 against police brutality in the wake of the brutal murder of George Floyd. 

The answer is, of course, control and suppression. As contradictions within the US deepen, a growing consciousness among Americans - led by a youthful movement - presents a challenge to the imperialist order like never before. 

A growing movement against police brutality… and occupation 

A movement against police brutality took root in 2014 within Ferguson, which was further mobilized and strengthened in 2020 with the George Floyd uprising, and now has correctly tied itself with an anti-imperialist cause by examining the connection between imperialist policy abroad and domestic policy at home. 

Those on the ground during the Ferguson rebellion can recall Palestinians tweeting ways to outmaneuver the police and protect themselves from tear gas.

This drew further investigation from Americans - who quickly realized that it was indeed American weapons companies benefitting the most from the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Amid US campus movement, purge of pro-Palestine professors intensifies

As pro-Palestine demos sweep US university campuses, university authorities at the behest of Israeli lobbies have intensified the purge of pro-Palestine professors.

From the tear gas thrown by law enforcement to the very surveillance tactics used by the state to locate, track, and spy on activists - it became clear the struggle against police brutality in the United States could not be separated from the liberation of Palestine. 

The current movement in the US has echoed this very fact. For example, take Chicago - a popular chant heard at all demonstrations roars “CPD (Chicago Police Department), KKK, IOF, they're all the same!

In fact, when an Israeli officer killed a Palestinian man by pushing his knee onto his neck, millions immediately drew parallels to this murder and the murder of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in the same deadly method.

Unsurprisingly, Minnesota state law enforcement is also trained by Israeli forces. 

It is no secret - at least not anymore - that police departments receive training from the Israeli regime on suppression and surveillance. This has further drawn organizers who may have been focused on their own specific cause - either Palestine or police brutality - to come together and understand their unique struggles are intertwined. US foreign policy is US domestic policy.

This cannot be declined as the same suppression tactics abroad and employed within the streets of New York, Chicago, Boston, and elsewhere. 

Hence, when US Congress approves billions of dollars meant for the Israeli Occupation Army, they are investing in their own police forces at home to carry out the same brutal suppression.

The cyclical connection can benefit Washington the most, which is the chief sponsor of Israel and relies on its vast militarized police to keep Americans in check. 

‘Follow the money’

When a US president writes a multibillion-dollar check to police departments - while writing multibillion-dollar checks for the military-industrial complex - they are effectively strengthening one institution, the institution of imperialism. 

It should not come as a surprise that the New York Police Department has an office in Tel Aviv - or that the Columbia University professor who led a brutal crackdown on students and faculty is moonlighting NYPD’s counterterrorism force, which relays information directly to the Zionist regime. 

Millions of dollars into the nation’s police departments are millions of dollars invested into war as usual, under the guise of safety and “crime prevention.” These institutions serve and reinforce each other.

Biden’s new “safety” plan is a direct response to the growing movement against the awakening anti-imperialist and anti-colonial movement in the United States.

If Trump were in power, or Obama, or whoever, they would have all had the same response. 

Washington is expecting the movement to grow and wants to quickly mobilize its state forces to crush and quell all dissent in the face of a tense election between Biden and Trump.

The Democratic National Convention, which will be held in Chicago in August, is already gearing up for a massive police presence. The state is providing the city of Chicago a whopping $75 million for DNC security alone - as Chicago has been one of the most militant cities for pro-Palestine demonstrations, and also happens to have one of the largest Palestinian communities in the United States. 

The last time Chicago experienced this deal of state-funded security was during the 2012 NATO protests, which again resulted in unmitigated police brutality and crackdown. Clearly, anti-imperialism is the red line for Washington, as they will resort to any means necessary to crush dissent. 

The contradictions within US society have reached a new peak with an ever-growing conscious working class. As Americans experience record homelessness, loss of jobs, stagnating wages, and crumbling infrastructure, the state replies with shrugs and more money for repression.

A turning point is on the horizon, which will have drastic implications not only for Americans but also for the rest of the world. 

Musa Iqbal is a Boston-based researcher and writer with a focus on US domestic and foreign policy.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)

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